


Seven Steps

by UzbekistanRules



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Hospitals, Hurt No Comfort, Medical Procedures, Mentions of other characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-13
Updated: 2016-10-13
Packaged: 2018-08-22 05:18:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8274283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UzbekistanRules/pseuds/UzbekistanRules
Summary: It's seven steps long. How many times can Gabriel go over the same tile before something breaks?





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bonebo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonebo/gifts).



> ;)
> 
> Unbeta'd

Seven steps. That's how wide the waiting room was. Seven steps, repeated over and over and over until the sound of metal clinking and leather rustling and silicone hitting tile lost all meaning.  
They didn't trust him. They watched him from afar or up close, tried to get him to talk and tried to get him to stop pacing. He just glared at them from under the mask until they left in shame or in anger- although in two separate cases, the omnic and the woman left with a distinct air of knowing. He went back to his pacing. Seven steps. A waiting room. Seven steps.  
A man and a woman came out of surgery, looking exhausted. He paused for them, one long line of tense muscle and even tenser smoke.  
"He'll live."  
"We should keep him away from anyone for three days. Just to stay on the safe side."  
A glare. From whom it didn't matter. The next words were expected. "Don't go visiting him for seventy two hours."  
Reaper lived to obey.

\- - - - -

He didn't know when he stopped making noise against the tile. It might have been after Lucio and Angela went to bed. It might have been five minutes ago. Time lost all meaning. He watched as one or the other came and went, waiting for the signal. As they left, they shook their heads. No. He was still left to pace. Corpses didn't need food. Corpses didn't need to sleep. Corpses needed to watch over the living so they didn't become cadavers themselves.  
Seven steps, repeated endlessly. He tried to pace the other way, but it didn't feel right somehow. He felt it was too long. He wasn't moving in front of the door. It was exposed. It couldn't be exposed. He went back to the routine, the safe. Seven steps. Turn. Seven steps. Turn. Seven st-  
"Reaper."  
His head snapped up. Angela was in front of the door leading further into the medical wing. He moved in front of her with two strides to spare. Braced himself subconsciously.  
"He's ready. Just... be gentle with him, okay? And try not to jostle the tubing too much."  
A wordless nod. He had forgotten how to speak. He followed her down the long hallways of testing rooms, labs, storage rooms, cleaning closets- everything but the rooms that normally held patients. Ah. He was in the ICU. Of course he was. Dumbass.  
The glass window was large. The single bed was tiny in comparison to the scale of the room. The man was smaller still. If Reaper still had a heartbeat, it would have stopped at that very moment. Tubes wound around and down and through and oh god he did this-  
He stood stock still as Angela opened the door to let him through. He couldn't. He couldn't he did this to him his-  
"Are you coming or not?"  
Angela was impatient. "Leave." The first words he's spoken in days, and it's a threat. She looked like she wanted to say something but he snarled at her, drawing a shotgun and putting it to her face. Right in between her eyes. He didn't have to say anything, but she got the hint. She left without another word.  
Reaper stepped in and closed the door. Turned out the lights. He didn't need them. He could see just fine. But he did want to take off the mask. Apologies were better in the dark anyway.  
"Jack..." Gabriel moved to the bed, sinking onto the floor with nary a whisper of anything other than that one word. The word that hung like death over the pale form and pale hair. The closed blue eyes. The smile as bright as the sun.  
"Jack I'm sorry. I'm sorry Jack I tried. I really fucking tried but damnit... I'm sorry. I'm nothing more than a monster. They're right, you know. I can't ever be a part of this team. Everyone fits in, nice and neat. Even Amilie. But not me. I'm too used to being a lone wolf and you voted for me to stay here anyway. Damn you! Damn you, you fucker, the swing vote, the one who decided if I was shunted into a tiny container for the rest of my unnatural life or if I was given a chance to prove myself and you chose me. Damn you! Why! Why did you do that!" Gabriel had nothing to hit so he beat his thigh. Tears were coming out, streaming down his face.  
"A monster doesn't deserve friend. A weapon doesn't need allies. A tool shouldn't have to rely on anything. And that's all I am. A convenient thing for people to use and discard. So why didn't you? Why didn't you leave me to rot? I'm- I'm not worth saving." He wiped away the salty streaks but they just kept coming. "Toss me already. Jack. Please. Just- let me go."  
A cough. A stutter in the heart monitor. The beats became more erratic. Jack was waking up. "Unnngh.... Gabriel?" That voice was weak and pathetic. Gabriel hated himself for the way Jack's voice cracked and creaked.  
"Yeah?"  
"I... Love you...." Jack slipped under once again, falling into that deep rhythm.  
Gabriel didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to say. It was- no. Just a dream. No one could love something like him.  
He shoved the mask back on, made his way to the door. He thought better of it though. He turned and glided back to the bed, tilting the mask far enough away that he could press a kiss to a scarred forehead. "Buenos noches, mi sol." And without a second glance backward, Reaper fled out of the medical wing, out of the base and into the night.  
Yes... Monsters did't deserve pity or love or kindness. He had to go back to what worked. Because if he didn't.... more people he knew and love would wind up hurt because of him. 


End file.
